1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge tray to be incorporated in a cartridge drive apparatus, and more particularly, to a cartridge tray to be incorporated in a cartridge drive apparatus which is for use with cartridge media such as a magnetic tape cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a known cartridge drive apparatus comprises a protection mechanism against erroneous cartridge insertion, as disclosed, for example, in Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2001-118305. FIGS. 1A to 6 are diagrams illustrating the configuration of the conventional cartridge drive apparatus disclosed in Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2001-118305.
Referring first to FIGS. 1A and 1B, magnetic tape cartridge 1000 has recess 1011 in an upper region of a left side in an inserting direction, and locking hole 1012 in a lower region of a right side. End face 1013 in the inserting direction is flat. Cartridge 1000 is mounted with reel face gear 1014 on the back surface thereof and is formed with positioning holes 1015, 1016 extending into the back surface.
A loading mechanism for loading cartridge 1000 into the cartridge drive apparatus is composed of cartridge tray 1020 (see FIGS. 2A to 2D) for holding cartridge 1000; a loader plate (not shown) for sliding cartridge tray 1020; and a loader guide plate (not shown) which has guide grooves for cartridge tray 1020 and a loader plate to slide therealong.
Referring next to FIGS. 2A to 2D, cartridge tray 1020 has bearings 1021-1023 and bearings 1021′-1023′ arranged coaxially on both left and right sides thereof. Holes 1025, 1026 are formed through cartridge tray 1020 in a lower region thereof for spring hook pin 1024 and positioning pins 1082, 1083 to extend therethrough, respectively. Further, cartridge tray 1020 comprises cartridge tray end face 1029 to which end face 1013 of cartridge 1000 abuts in the inserting direction. Also, cartridge tray 1020 comprises cartridge locking lever 1070 for securely holding cartridge 1000 when it is loaded; tray locking lever 1050 for preventing an erroneous loading operation when cartridge is inserted by error; and stopper 1060 for preventing an erroneous insertion of cartridge 1000.
Referring now to FIG. 3, cartridge locking lever 1070 is rotatably mounted to pin 1027 which is fixed on the right side of cartridge tray 1020. Hook 1071 is mounted at the leading end of cartridge locking lever 1070, and the lower portion of cartridge locking lever 1070 has bent inclination 1072. Cartridge locking lever 1070 is pulled toward the inner face of cartridge tray 1020 by spring 1074 which is stretched between spring hook pin 1073 mounted to a lower portion of cartridge locking lever 1070 and spring hook pin 1024 mounted on the back surface of cartridge tray 1020.
Referring next to FIG. 4, tray locking lever 1050 is rotatably mounted to pin 1028 which is fixed in a rear region of cartridge tray 1020, and tray locking lever 1050 is pulled toward the inner wall of cartridge tray 1020 by spring 1053 stretched between tray locking lever 1050 and pin 1028. Hook 1051 is mounted at the leading end of tray locking lever 1050, and cam 1052 is disposed near the trailing end of tray locking lever 1050.
Referring further to FIG. 4, stopper 1060 is mounted on the top of the left side of cartridge tray 1020 for preventing an erroneous insertion of cartridge 1000, and is formed in a triangle shape having slope 1061 such that it does not prevent an insertion of cartridge 1000 when it is inserted in a correct orientation.
Describing next the operation of the protection mechanism against erroneous cartridge insertion described above, cartridge tray 102 and loader plate 1030 are positioned near a cartridge insertion port before a loading operation, as illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2D and the like. In this event, cartridge locking lever 1070 is forced open because slope 1072 is in contact with pin 1081 which is fixed on a deck base, as illustrated in FIG. 3. Also, since because hook 1051 is caught by locking pin 1047 as illustrated in FIG. 4, tray locking lever 1050 is locked to disable the loading, such that cartridge tray 1020 is not allowed to slide.
As illustrated in FIGS. 2A to 2D, as cartridge 1000 is inserted into cartridge tray 1020 in the correct orientation, stopper 1060 comes into recess 1011, and end face 1013 comes into contact with cam 1052 which is pushed deep into the apparatus, causing tray locking lever 1050 to rotate about pin 1028. Then, hook 1051 comes off locking pin 1047 to release the loading disabled state, causing cartridge end face 1013 to abut to cartridge tray end face 1029 (see FIG. 5). In response, cartridge tray 1020 and loader plate 1030, which are further pushed deep into the apparatus, begin sliding along a horizontal portion of a bearing rail (not shown) and along a top bearing rail (not shown), causing cartridge locking lever 1070 to come off pin 1081, bringing hook 1071 into engagement with locking hole 1012 by spring 1074, with the result that cartridge 1000 is securely held by cartridge tray 1020 (see FIG. 6).
If cartridge 1000 is erroneously inserted into cartridge tray 1020 in an erroneous orientation, cartridge 1000 is blocked by slope 1061 of stopper 1060, so that the disabled loading state is not released. In this way, according to the conventional mechanism described above, when cartridge 1000 is inserted into cartridge tray 1020 in the correct orientation, the disabled loading state is released at substantially the same position as a position at which the cartridge is securely locked, thereby making it possible to prevent erroneous loading operations.
FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate the cartridge tray shown in FIG. 2B, as viewed from the back side thereof. It should be noted that for convenience of illustration, FIGS. 7A and 7B partially depict the configuration of tray locking lever 1050 and cartridge locking lever 1070 in a perspective view.
As illustrated in FIG. 7A, when no cartridge 1000 is accommodated in cartridge tray 1020, hook 1051 of tray locking lever 1050 is caught by locking pin 1047, resulting in the disabled loading state in which cartridge tray 1020 is prevented from sliding. On the other hand, cartridge locking lever 1070 is caught by pin 1081, thus preventing hook 1071 from projecting toward the inner wall of cartridge tray 1020.
However, if vibrations or a shock are applied to the apparatus for some reason (for example, vibrations during transportation or the like) in this state, hook 1051 of tray locking lever 1050 may come off locking pin 1047, causing tray locking lever 1050 to rotate in an X-direction as illustrated in FIG. 7B. As a result, cartridge tray 1020 is enabled to slide, so that as cartridge tray 1020 moves in a direction indicated by arrow Y1 in FIG. 7B due to vibrations or shock, cartridge locking lever 1070 comes off pin 1081 and is rotated by the force of spring 1053 in a direction indicated by arrow Z in FIG. 7B up to a locking position shown in FIG. 7B. In this event, hook 1071 of cartridge locking lever 1070 projects toward the inner wall of cartridge tray 1020.
Cartridge 1020 is urged by a spring, not shown, to move in a direction indicated by arrow Y2 in FIG. 7B, but after cartridge locking lever 1070 has rotated as shown in FIG. 7B, the leading end of cartridge locking lever 1070 is in abutment to pin 1081, thus inhibiting cartridge tray 1020 from returning to the original position. Accordingly, cartridge locking lever 1070 will not be returned to the position indicated in FIG. 7A by the urging force of the spring. As a result, hook 1071 of cartridge locking lever 1070 remains projecting toward the inner wall of cartridge tray 1020. With hook 1071 projecting toward the inner wall of cartridge tray 1020, even if an attempt is made to insert cartridge 1000 into cartridge tray 1020, the corner of cartridge 1000 will run against hook 1071, so that cartridge 1000 cannot be inserted into cartridge tray 1020.
As described above, in the conventional mechanism configuration, if tray locking lever 1050 is unlocked for some reason, cartridge locking lever 1070 can be brought into a locking state due to unlocked tray locking lever 1050, possibly resulting in the inability to insert cartridge 1000 into cartridge tray 1020.